


invisible string (original version)

by akkordianswift



Series: Seven Days of Diakko [2]
Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: Childhood Friends, F/F, alternative version of day 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:07:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26097610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akkordianswift/pseuds/akkordianswift
Summary: An AU and alternative (aka original) version of Day 1: Childhood Friends prompt for Diakko Week 2020.
Relationships: Diana Cavendish & Atsuko "Akko" Kagari, Diana Cavendish/Atsuko "Akko" Kagari
Series: Seven Days of Diakko [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1894810
Comments: 8
Kudos: 98





	invisible string (original version)

**Author's Note:**

> This was the original work I had for day 1 of Diakko Week 2020 until I realized I made it too AU. Didn't want to throw this to the trash so I'm posting it as part of a series.
> 
> There are blatant similarities from the other one because I'm running out of creative juices last night so...
> 
> :supasob: forgive me

When Diana was four, she saw her for the first time.

The girl was jumping and clapping in front of the white picket fenced house that sat directly across the Cavendish’s.

Diana didn’t know why the girl was so happy about moving into a small town in Blytonbury. It was always so gloomy here and the yard too small even in her four-year old mind. Diana missed the wide space of their family manor in the Wedinburgh.

But the girl with the brunette hair was beaming up at her parents as they surveyed their new home, piles of boxes sitting behind them on the sidewalk.

She looked so… happy, exuding joy as if she was made of glitters and happiness and bright, bright sunshine.

When the girl looked over her father’s side, wide red eyes met curious sapphire and crinkled.

The girl waved at Diana with a wide grin.

Diana eyed her for a moment before tentatively raising her own hand to wave back.

Diana didn’t know she made a friend that day.

* * *

When Diana was six, Akko was her only friend.

Shy, cautious, too polite Diana Cavendish was friends with extroverted, joyous, clumsy Atsuko ‘Akko’ Kagari.

Reluctant as Diana was to be friends with anyone in their neighborhood, Akko wormed her way in into Diana’s home – and heart.

Two years after the Kagaris moved in across the Cavendishes, Akko was practically seen as Bernadette’s adoptive daughter with how much she sticks around Diana.

They were attached to the hip.

Sister from another mother, as their moms would always say.

Akko would always drag Diana into some sort of mischief and Diana would always find herself trying to stop her friend but end up enjoying their ‘adventures’ anyway.

They were always laughing together.

It was something Diana didn’t know she craved – an ever present happiness, a friend, a confidant. She knew even then that she didn’t need anyone else.

* * *

When Diana was nine, she lost her mother.

It was quick. Painless. Her mother was breathing one moment and gone the next.

Diana sobbed into her mother’s chest until they had to take her away.

Akko found her on her knees, on the floor, the sheet that covered her mother grasped tightly in her arms.

Akko comforted her until her wails turned to quiet sobs, until Diana’s throat was dry and there were no tears left in her eyes.

Akko stayed until Diana was too tired to stay up, empty sapphire eyes lost and grieving and unable to stay open for a second longer.

Akko never lost a parent before.

Diana just lost both of hers.

No words were exchanged between them when Diana awoke in Akko’s arms the next morning.

And Akko stayed with her throughout the wake and the burial, holding her hand or just staying close whenever she could.

She vowed to never leave Diana’s side.

* * *

When Diana was thirteen, Akko kissed her.

It was a dare from one of Akko’s neighborhood friends. _Kiss a girl,_ her friend challenged.

Diana was sitting on their front porch when Akko walked up to her with determination – and a hint of fear – clear in her crimson eyes.

When confused sapphire eyes looked up, Akko muttered a quiet apology before bending down and pressing her lips against Diana.

Pressing being an operative word.

The kiss was light, barely even there, barely even a kiss.

But it was both their first.

Both of their cheeks were aflame with embarrassment when Akko straightened up and ran away.

They didn’t talk about it afterwards.

Diana didn’t because she didn’t want to make things awkward between them. Akko was her best friend.

She couldn’t lose her.

She only had Anna and the empty house her mother left her with.

And Akko.

Diana didn’t want to risk anything.

* * *

When Diana was eighteen, she shared her first and last dance with Akko during the debut ball Aunt Daryl had prepared for her.

They held it in the Cavendish manor in Wedinburgh but Diana couldn’t for the life of her think why she ever wanted to stay here when she was four.

The manor was enormous, yes, but it felt even hollower than the two-storey house she lived in in Blytonbury.

And the guests – _heavens, the guests_ – were strange faces to Diana.

She only knew of Akko and her parents, of her two cousins and aunt, Anna, and practically no one else.

But Diana was still content because Akko was with her and making silly jokes about the suits and gowns of strangers as they danced in the middle of the ballroom.

“Thank you,” Diana whispered as the last notes of the music filtered through the noise. Akko had to leave her soon in the middle of the ballroom with everyone watching her every move.

“Happy birthday, gorgeous,” Akko whispered right back, eyes twinkling with some unfathomable emotion, and Diana blushed and dipped her head.

Which only reminded her that Akko was wearing a crisp tuxedo that fit her figure perfectly and told Diana that her best friend was no longer the wailing child that she used to cajole into eating her broccoli.

Akko hadn’t changed but at the same time, she _had._

Perhaps it was the glass of wine she drank earlier but Diana’s head was spinning with a sudden realization.

The skipping of her heart whenever Akko kissed her cheek, the tingly sensation in her belly whenever Akko held her hand as they walked back home after school, the bright and warm feeling in her chest whenever she heard Akko laughing or simply talking.

Akko had grown into a wonderful and beautiful woman and Diana was crushing on her.

It was the only thought Diana had as Akko pulled away from their embrace, bowed, and walked away with a wide grin.

She had a crush on her best friend.

* * *

When Diana was nineteen, she went to Luna Nova while Akko went to Appleton.

She hadn’t seen Akko since they went their separate ways. Since Akko told her she would only be home during the holidays or breaks. Since Akko went away in their sedan after she kissed the corner of Diana’s lips and whispered ‘I love you’ to her.

It was unfair.

Luna Nova was but an hour away from their houses in Blytonbury but Appleton was six hours away without traffic. And even though Diana had enough inheritance to buy herself a car, she wasn’t impulsive – even if she was still a hormone bridled teenager – and she didn’t even know what Akko meant when she said I love you.

They were the best of friends, sisters from different mothers.

The romantic feelings Diana had for Akko were nothing but her manifesting her desires onto someone.

After all, she had no one else but Akko.

Her desires had to cling onto someone somehow and Akko was the only viable option.

That was Diana’s reasoning.

The one she held onto for fear of rejection, of losing the woman she loved so dearly.

Her friendship, her presence were more important to her than having her reciprocate her love.

Diana was content with what they had.

Or at least, that was what she told herself for the next four years.

* * *

“Diana!”

Diana whirled around at the exclamation of her name and she thanked her quick reflexes – and the workout Hannah and Barbara forced her to do the past four years – as a bumbling ball of energy jumped right into her arms.

“Akko,” Diana wheezed as she regained her proper balance and tightened her grip on her best friend to keep her from falling. Since when was Akko _this_ heavy?

She knew they hadn’t seen each other in – what? A year? But even still, Diana wasn’t expecting Akko to grow so much.

When she pulled away, Akko stood a full inch taller than Diana.

It made her smile and irritated at the same time. Diana used to be taller than her best friend.

She knew Akko would hold this over her head the moment she finds the chance to gloat.

Diana already knew she wouldn’t mind.

“I’ve missed you!” Akko declared with her lips pulled into a wide smile. Her fringes were unruly as ever beneath the hood of the anorak she wore, her cheeks were bright red from the cold, but Diana hadn’t seen a more beautiful sight.

The time they spent apart from each other only succeeded in making Diana’s feelings for her best friend to grow.

She thought they would fizzle out as months went by without seeing Akko in person or even talking to her when she was busy with her studies.

Diana guessed there was some truth in the saying ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder.’

“I have missed you as well,” Diana replied with a smile of her own. She was never able to hide her real emotions whenever she was with Akko, anyway. She learned a long time ago that being in Akko’s presence meant freely showing her emotions – sad or happy were they.

Akko laughed at her response. “Still so formal! God, I’ve missed you, you nerd.” She threw her arms around Diana once more and Diana could feel her heart galloping madly in her chest.

The chilly cold of December was no longer registering in Diana’s brain and body as Akko’s embrace enveloped her in warmth. She missed this. She missed her. She missed this kind of intimacy she only shared with Akko.

Heavens, Diana thought she had moved on from her best friend. She had tried every possible way of getting over her, to forget the waves of emotions she felt whenever she thought of Akko’s smile and laugh, and yet here she was in Akko’s arms and feeling as if this was all she could ever need.

When Akko pulled away again, her arms stayed around Diana’s neck while Diana’s own hands remained wrapped around Akko’s waist. The position, so to speak, was intimate.

And Diana was fighting a blush from creeping up on her cheeks. She could blame it on the cold but Akko knew she wasn’t as affected by the cold like the Japanese girl was.

And as if something shifted in the air between them, the grin Akko was sporting turned into a soft smile and her shoulders dropped.

“Akko.”

 _Darn it._ Diana didn’t mean to say her name out loud even if it was the only word she could think of at the moment. She didn’t mean for it to sound so… _tender_ either. The last thing she wanted was to reveal the _love_ she harbored for her best friend.

“Yes?” Akko asked, smile gentle.

She was an achiever her whole life and yet Diana couldn’t find the words to say to her best friend of eighteen years.

Diana knew there was only one thing she could do right now. It was impulsive, reckless, and a little bit dangerous. She was never a risk-taker, only ever doing something after much deliberation and careful planning, but hadn’t she already wasted four years of trying to get over someone she knew she would never learn to _not_ love?

And Akko was, quite literally, in her arms right now with snow dropping from the sky and enveloping them in flecks of white. How more romantic could this get?

And so, Diana, for the first time ever in her life probably, made a rash decision and dipped her head to capture Akko’s lips on her own.

The novels and movies were lying.

There weren’t fireworks lighting up behind her eyelids. There wasn’t an orchestra singing a romantic song in her head. There wasn’t a made up future that flashed in her mind’s eye.

Instead, she was made aware of how dry and chapped Akko’s lips were, of how the arms around her neck tightened just a tiny bit of a fraction when their lips met, of how warm and light Diana was feeling as their lips remained connected as they stood in the middle of the street leading to their homes.

It wasn’t what Diana imagined their second kiss would be but it was still perfect. It was… theirs.

Theirs alone.

And that was what really mattered.

Diana pulled away just long enough to softly mutter the words she’d been dying to say to Akko for years, “I love you.”

“Finally,” Akko whispered against her lips and stole the laugh right out of Diana’s mouth.

When Diana was twenty-two, she learned that taking risks was better than never trying.

Especially if it gave her a wonderful best friend _and_ girlfriend named Akko Kagari.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, thank you for reading!


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